Gaily they Rejoiced
by Fragments of Time
Summary: When Zip misunderstands part of the story, they learn something new about Lara. Amanda/Lara


Lara pressed yet another of the buttons, and heard the booming voice announce:

"Thus didst King Arthur gather round his person ye greatest knights of ye realm..."

She couldn't help but to wonder how the recordings still worked. Nothing else in this place seemed to; even the electricity barely worked.

"...that they might be paragons of chivalry and virtue. Gaily they rejoiced--"

"Wait, what did he just say?" Zip asked

Alister began to recite the story from the very beginning.

"No, just no."

"Gaily they rejoiced?" Lara asked

"Yeah. I don't remember that from when _I_ read the King Arthur story."

"...You actually read that?" Alister asked in surprise

He made a face, "Not because I wanted to; it was back when I was in school. I didn't pay much attention, but I think I'd remember something like that."

"Why?"

"A bunch of gay dudes--" he began

Lara then realized what he meant. "No, Zip... not that sense of the word. It used to be another word for happy."

"If he read it in school, they most likely translated it from old English to make it easier for the students to read."

Alister added

Lara nodded as she recklessly ran onto the wood plank ad jumped, swinging from the bare poles which once proudly displayed flags. "Even if that was the case, why should it matter? I mean, really--"

Zip interrupted her, "I just--"

One thing that annoyed Lara was when she was interrupted. Therefore, she ignored him and continued to speak over him. "--I'm gay. And?"

At that point, Zip stopped, speechless with shock.

She smirked at his reaction as she jumped onto the decorative drawbridge, then quickly back as she felt herself losing her grip on the moving object. "What, you didn't notice?"

She certainly would have laughed had she seen the boys' expressions at that moment, especially Zip.

Recovering from the shock, he thought, _So that's why she was never interested in me... _Zip decided, flexing his muscles

"No, Zip, it's not." she told him

"What!?"

"You're quite predictable, you know. Honestly, though, you really weren't all that romantic."

Alister raised an eyebrow at this, curious as to what had happened.

Zip covered the microphone, "What, you're trying to tell me you ever thought she was hot?"

Lara decided not to point out that she could still hear him, albeit muffled by his hand.

Alister blushed, "...I, um, well..."

She also decided for Alister's sake not to point out that obviously Alister wouldn't think that, considering his rather apparent crush on Zip. _Then again, Zip probably hasn't noticed._

Noticing a button, Lara decided not to press this one. She found this conversation far more interesting, and now she had learned that all they did was tell the story, which she already knew. She instead continued on her way, shooting down something to act as a bridge for her to jump to the other side.

Zip decided to ignore Alister's odd reaction to question Lara, "Does that mean there's somebody you're... interested in?"

She couldn't help but to wonder, _Why the sudden new train of thought? ...Oh. That's not different at all, then... not really. It never ceases to confuse me why men generally seem to think two females together is "hot", or really any different. Especially because in that case, it mean they certainly aren't getting either of them._ Lara decided to ignore this and answer, "You could say that."

Now Alister couldn't help but to wonder a little, just out of curiosity... although he was rather disappointed by Zip's reaction to the matter.

"Who?" Zip continued

Lara smirked, "Guess." She figured it was pretty obvious to anyone who knew her well. All of her friends had figured it out, even way back then. _Although now things have changed so much, I suppose it may be more of a challenge._ she mused

He thought of the women Lara knew, or at least, the ones he was aware of. She probably wouldn't tell him to guess if he didn't know her. There was Amanda, Natla, Anaya... that's all he could think of. Natla was her enemy, so that was almost definitely out. Amanda was even more Lara's enemy, so that really couldn't be it. Which left... "Anaya?" They had seemed pretty close, so it didn't seem all that unlikely.

"Hm, no. We went out for a while in college, but it didn't work out."

"...Natla??"

"You're quite unobservant, aren't you?"

Zip, ever impatient, demanded, "Then who is it!?"

"Amanda, of course."

He nearly choked on his coffee, "A-AMANDA!?"

"What's wrong with Amanda?" she shot back, slightly defensively

"She tried to kill you! She wants you_ dead!_ How do you get attracted to someone trying to murder you!?"

"...Honestly, I don't blame her. In her situation, I'd probably try to kill me too." she sighed, "It wasn't recently that this happened, you know. I began to develop feelings for her back when we were just beginning in archaeology. But then... well, a lot of things happened. It's a long story."

"So, what is the story between you and Amada?" Alister asked, "Even if it is a long story."

"...We went to school together. Then we would sometimes go excavating together - safety in numbers, they always told us... even if that was only to prevent people from not noticing rockslides or something."

"Because you've never encountered those. Giant boulders, death traps... never seem them." Zip rolled his eyes

"This was when I was just learning. Anyway, after a while I started to fall in love with her. Unfortunately, not long after, a disaster occurred."

"Why didn't you ask he out before then?"

"I didn't know if she was straight or not."

That was a reasonable excuse. Alister asked, "What was the disaster?"

"...I'm not entirely sure exactly what happened. All I know is, in the end, I was the only one assigned to that underground area who lived... or so we thought. It filled up with so much water, and a ton of rocks laded in the exact place she was. After I left, I told the others who were not down there what had happened. As a memorial for them, we decided to leave things as they were. And... well, you know the story from there."

Zip decided this was becoming quite a serious conversation, and changed the subject. "...Amanda's not even that hot."

"What the hell are you looking at!?" Alister exclaimed suddenly

_I don't even want to know._ Lara shook her head, "Yes she is."

He insisted, "No, she is _not._"

"I'm not going to have a childish argument." Lara decided rather self-righteously.

Suddenly they heard laughter from the earpiece. Zip and Alister exchanged confused looks; that definitely wasn't Lara. Lara, however, immediately recognized it.

"Forgot I had this, did you, Lara?" Amanda asked

Admittedly, she had. "Amanda... how long have you been listening?" Lara asked nervously

"The whole time." she replied teasingly, "Honestly, I had no idea. Well, maybe somewhat."

Lara blushed, unsure what to say for the first time in many years. "I, umm... that is..."

"I figured it out long ago, actually. Even back then you always used to blush around me. And I know you're not the type of person to blush easily."

Zip and Alister had to agree, but decided to keep quiet and watch (or rather, listen). Neither of them could imagine Lara blushing.

"Why didn't you say anything if you had realized it?"

Amanda shrugged, despite that the others were unable to see the gesture. "I figured you'd ask me out or something if you wanted to, and otherwise I'd just leave it be."

"...Does that mean you would have said no if I had asked?" she asked carefully

Amanda immediately saw through this, but decided to pretend she hadn't. It was more interesting. "I never said that."

"Then, you would say yes?"

She noted the change of past tense to preset. _Now?_ she wondered, _Would I...?_ She was still rather upset about being left for dead, but she had to admit she didn't mind the idea. "...I might."

Lara started to say something when she realized Zip and Alister were on the other line. "Why don't we go discuss this sometime, elsewhere, when there aren't others listening?" she suggested

Amanda misunderstood this as Lara's asking her out, when really, Lara meant to use it as an opportunity to ask her out at the other location. "Like over dinner, you mea?"

She blushed more, "...S-sure!"

"Ok, it's a date." Amanda told her, then shutting of her earpiece

Lara grinned despite herself, and gaily they rejoiced.


End file.
